THIS WEEK, PTR reveals the new Metabo HPT Saw, Nuron takes on Hilti, Tim reviews the FLEX surface to Air light, And thanks to you, we pack up ALL of this stuff to send to a shop class who needs it. THIS is your power tool week in review!
Welcome back power tool fans, before we get started, don’t forget Jay’s head! If you’ve subscribed and hit the bell, you’re likely here in the first 60 minutes. If so, keep an eye out for Jay’s head, and if you find him, email us at [email protected] with his location, for a shot at our weekly $50 Gift Card to Ohio Power Tool.
Project Farm | Right Angle Impacts
If you haven’t discovered the joy of a small but powerful right angle impact wrench, you’re not truly living. And thanks to Todd, you’re about to have all the information you need to buy the right one the first time.
To determine who’s the best, he rounded up the usual suspects from Milwaukee including both their M12 and M18 versions, Kobalt, Makita, Ingersoll Rand, and SKIL. He then proceeds to test torque, and speed, and then puts them to work on a few truck tires. But of course power and speed isn’t everything, and right angles are specifically designed for ergonomics, so Todd takes his time reviewing the handles and even measures all of their dimensions. When the nuts all spin to a stop, Todd chooses 3 winners, encouraging you to consider pricing and battery platform before you buy, which makes sense. To see who comes out on top, head over to Project Farm.
VCG Construction | FLEX Testing Rig
So do you remember the FLEX Event we try not to talk about because so many people get emotional when we do? Well Vince saw it too, and a particular test caught his eye.
Specifically, the impact weight lifting rig, that involved spinning a large wheel, that in turned wound up a line of rope, lifting a weight like 15’ in the air. Which left of lot of VCG fans with questions. So to answer those questions, Vince and the very cool gang decided to build their own rig, and the thing works! Once they had it set up, it they were able to not only duplicate the test that FLEX did, but they also grabbed a bunch of models that FLEX didn’t, and ended up answering a TON of questions that a lot of us wanted answered. They not only ran tests but allowed us to watch them go through the building process, which was almost as much fun. This was an incredibly fun video to watch, and it looks like the boys are already working on follow ups! You can find them at VCG Construction.
Pro Tool Reviews | Metabo HPT Rear Handle Saw
The boys at PTR are back in the test shop, this time they got their hands on the Metabo HPT, 36V rear handle circular saw, and set out to see if their claim of lighter weight, meant a sacrifice of power.
This is the Metabo HPT 36V MultiVolt 7 ¼” rear handle Circular Saw, or the Metabo HPT C-36-07-DWA for mah nerds. It’ll cut up to 5 layers of ½” or 4 layers of ⅝” plywood in a single pass. It’s powered by a brushless motor that spins up to 5,100 RPM, features a quick brakes, and because it’s MultiVolt, you can use the adapter to plug it into a wall when you’re tired of the freedom that batteries provide. But perhaps the most intriguing part, is the claim that it weighs 2lbs lighter than the leading rear handle. And if you’ve used a rear handle saw before, you know that as you use that handle to reach far across sheet goods, only to carry it back on an outstretched arm, weight is a BIG deal on these things. To find out if the weight does make a difference, and of course to see if the saw can do the job, head over to Pro Tool Reviews.
Man Caver Tools | HILTI Nuron
Dave over at Man Caver Tools is still digging through his crate of Hilti Tools, this time, he thought it was a good idea to see if these new Nuron tools are actually an improvement over the old cordless Hilti 22v tools.
To do that, he grabbed the new HILTI Nuron SID 6-22, and tested it against the SID 4 A-22. Now on paper, this should be a pretty big improvement. We’re talking about 1,700 in-lbs vs 2,600. And 2,700 RPM vs 3,600. But perhaps most interesting is the minor $10 bump in price. THIS is why we’re all so excited about Nuron. The tools are all promising a significant performance increase, without a huge price jump. And Dave’s testing puts these promises on full display. If you’ve been ignoring Hilti for a long time, you should really be watching these tests over at Man Caver Tools, if only so you know what you’re missing.
Shop Class Heroes
For those of you who may not know, our channel membership program, the Production Crew, has been working with us to help promote the trades this year. And after a lot of research, we felt the best way to help, was to lend a hand and some tools to as many shop classes as we can, across the country. And we found our first class in Stockton California. This is Weston Ranch High School. Their agriculture mechanics teacher, Ruel Celeste, reached out to tell us about his class. Ruel teaches Agriculture Wood and Mechanics, and his teaching partner, Natalie teaches agriculture welding! They’re actually both 1st year teachers, and said their classroom could use some missing tools, and a lot of them are very old. That’s where you guys come in! Thanks to our Production Crew, we’re sending all of these tools and more to Weston Ranch High School, to help promote the trades, and to support more Shop Class Heroes.
We have some other people to thank too. First of all, Robert Bates. Bob is just as dedicated to growing the trades and supporting shop classes as we are, and is supporting the effort every month. Thank you Bob! Also, as we mentioned last week, FLEX donated a shelf of all new FLEX tools to our Production Crew Giveaway, so we were able to use the money they saved us, on Weston Ranch High School, bringing the total over $3,000. We also want to thank HART for offering to provide all of the hammers, tapes, saws, and MANY MANY boxes of PPE that we couldn’t even fit on the desk. And last of all, Spyder for sponsoring our Production Crew this year, making so much of this even possible.
Speaking of, TOMORROW is our 3rd Production Crew Live Giveaway! Join us here tomorrow on Saturday March 26th, where we’ll randomly choose another winner, and they’ll get to choose a set of power tools worth over $2,000. So make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and click that bell so you don’t miss it.
Shop Tool Reviews | FLEX Tower Light
Moving on to Tim over at Shop Tool Reviews, who got his hands on the new surface to air FLEX Dual Power LED tower light.
We’ve had the light here for a few weeks now, and we absolutely love it. And as it turns out Tim does too. He highlights the quick setup, multi directional and detachable head, and perhaps best of all, the dual power source. You can either pop in a FLEX battery, or use an extension cord to put it into an outlet.
But Tim wasn’t done there. He also found time to finally review the new Milwaukee M18 Mower, but this was the first time we’ve seen anyone take it into some serious brush, like this. As we said before, this mower is a unique tool specifically designed for pros, which is why Milwaukee chose to push the slider from runtime, deep into power instead. And just look at that thing go. You can find both videos at Shop Tool Reviews.
Mastering Mayhem | FLEX Inline Saw
Last of all , Marius from Mastering Mayhem, shared a review for my favorite circular saw, the FLEX 6 ½” In-Line circular saw.
What makes this saw unique, is the in-line design. The blade, handles, motor and battery are all right in line with the blade. They do this by placing the motor behind the blade instead of next to it, and then using a belt drive to get the power to blade. The result is the ability to see your cut from either side, which is a big deal to anyone who’s ever cut sheet goods with a saw like this. Plus, because that motor isn’t on the axis of the blade, they can move it closer to the plate, giving this 6 ½” blade the cutting depth of a 7 ¼. Marius details the features, and puts it to work on a stack of plywood. If you’re still living in the stone ages, and only able to see the blade from one side of your saw, head over to Mastering Mayhem.
That’s it for us this week guys. Thank you EGO and Ohio Power Tool for sponsoring this episode. We couldn’t do it without you.
If you can, do something kind for someone else this weekend.
